Obamacare: Glitches, delays still hold up enrollments

Many people nationwide still couldn’t sign up for insurance coverage Wednesday, despite assurances from the Obama administration that glitches with the healthcare.gov enrollment website were to have been resolved the previous day.

The website is the place where residents of 36 states, including Texas, have to go to enroll in healthcare under the Affordable Care Act. Those states did not create marketplaces where residents could buy insurance.

Healthcare.gov launched Tuesday. I spent eight hours trying to log into the site without success.

I tried again Wednesday. Still no luck.

Fabien Levy, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the following written statement:

“Americans successfully enrolled through HealthCare.gov and state-based Marketplaces on Day 1. Volume at HealthCare.gov continues to be high, with 4.7 million unique visits in the first 24 hours, our call center receiving more than 190,000 calls and more than 104,000 web chats requested. We expect to see similar volume as (Tuesday), and while this overwhelming interest is continuing to cause wait times, there will be continuing improvements in the coming hours and days.”

He didn’t say how many people successfully enrolled.

On Tuesday, Marilyn Tavenner, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said during a telephone conference with reporters that 2.8 million people had visited the healthcare.gov website. Some actually enrolled for coverage, she said. Despite repeated attempts to find out how many, Tavenner refused to answer the question, saying that she wasn’t going to reveal the information.

As you continue trying to log into healthcare.gov, Kaiser Health News has listed three things consumers should keep in mind before buying coverage. Once you buy insurance, you’re stuck with it until the next enrollment period, which starts in October 2014, unless you experience a life-changing event — marriage, divorce or job loss.